In a move that should come to no surprise, Apple effectively banned Epic Games’ Fortnite for the foreseeable future with the court’s blessing.
In another legal move in the battle between Apple v. Epic Games, the tech giant elected to “not consider any further requests for reinstatement” regarding Fortnite‘s return to the App Store.
Earlier in the month, a court found Epic Games in an intentional breach of contract in regards to its Fortnite payment system, allowing players to purchase in-game money from the Epic Store to be utilized on iOS versions of the game. The decision saw Epic Games need to pay Apple royalties regarding the profit accrued from Fortnite sales that were made through Epic directly to be used on iOS. A contract clause that determines 30% of all revenue generated from iOS, goes to Apple.
In another legal move today, Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted a document that showed Apple’s intentions regarding the future of Fortnite on the App Store.
The last update regarding this legal campaign saw an injunction read “any party can seek modification” to the ruling within a 90-day period. With this move, Apple will effectively “play by the same rules as everyone else” and block Fortnite from reappearing on their iOS App Store as is their “valid, lawful, and enforceable” right.
Notably, this doesn’t just include Fortnite. The litigation above mentions “Epic’s developer program account” which could mean every single one of the titles developed by Epic can see a block from the iOS App Store for the period in which all court appeals are exhausted.
The period where Apple is legally allowed to block any titles developed by Epic Games could last up to 5-years, this is a huge blow to Epic Games as the App Store is the primary way Apple’s devices attain software, effectively removing Epic off of most devices that utilize the iOS App Store.
With this latest development, there is sure to be more news in this ongoing saga between Apple and Epic Games.
